Violent front end shaking/55+ MPH /'82 300SD/201,000 miles. I suspected worn front shocks. I installed "known good" - by MBZ mech - used front bilstein shocks(removed KYB shocks). Lifted front of vehicle by frame cross member, checked play front to back, side to side on both left and right wheels, feels OK. Have not done anything else to front end, except visual, as of yet. Any ideas? I'm open to suggestions, thanks guys.

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1982 MBZ 300SD Turbo Diesel- just turned 200,000- just breaking her in

There are a couple of threads around on this subject, but I had the same thing in my 81 300sd. It was a violent shudder that would develop into almost a pounding if you kept going. I think the general concensus on the cause was general looseness in the front end, namely the lower control arm bushing, and the track rod mount. I replaced my wheel bearings, shocks, and tie rods since then, and the shudder only comes back on certain road surfaces, so it'll take a full rebuild to get rid of it totally.

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"spreading a trail of obnoxious where ever we go"
1981 300sd w/ 341,500 miles

http://www.wecrash.com/pics/ddda_banner.gif

New tires fixed mine. Nice smooth ride this morning.

This was after all new front end components and an alignment.

I verified this first by rotating them. The shaking moved to the rear.

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Michael LaFleur

'05 E320 CDI - 86,000 miles
'86 300SDL - 360,000 miles
'85 300SD - 150,000 miles (sold)
'89 190D - 120,000 miles (sold)
'85 300SD - 317,000 miles (sold)
'98 ML320 - 270,000 miles (sold)
'75 300D - 170,000 miles (sold)
'83 Harley Davidson FLTC (Broken again) :-(
'61 Plymouth Valiant - 60k mikes
2004 Papillon (Oliver)
2005 Tzitzu (Griffon)
2009 Welsh Corgi (Buba)

Did this new problem came on all of a sudden or gradually ?

In my case it was out of round tires.

Out of balance can produce same thing.

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80 300D 340K Owned 30 yrs
83 300SD 440K Owned 9 yrs - Daily Driver 150mi/day
02 Z71 Suburban 117,000
15 Toyota Prius 2600 miles
00 Harley Sportster 24k
09 Yamaha R6
03 Ninja 250

I vote for tire balance. Check that first it's cheap and easy.

Had the car about 6 mos. Only did it a few times on freeway at 65-70 mph. Problem Seems to have gotten worse(more sensitive) after installing shocks this weekend. Did it last night once on road test. This morning on way to work(35 mile drive-all freeway) I can sense when it is about to start the convulsing vibrating shakes, it will start shaking the front end a little then progressively gets worse very fast. I back off the accelerator at those times when it just starts and it simmers down. It will seem to start just after 55. Tried to keep it at 55 or less this morning.

I am going to closely check front end. Will check with prybar method where warranted and putting a wrench on all bolts and nuts just to make sure they are tight. Going to jack up front end tonight and do all that along with a very close visual. I washed the under carriage, suspension, engine(again)last night.

I will switch tires either way(thank you), see what happens. I can't afford to rebuild the front end. Even with free labor.

Did research since original post. Used the word "shake" for search. Lot of results. Shake rattle and roll man, Love these cars. I did a few other things over the weekend that I will document document later for that post. But I can't afford to go off on a tangent right now. I need to focus on this front end vibration like a frickin star wars laser beam.

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1982 MBZ 300SD Turbo Diesel- just turned 200,000- just breaking her in

The SD has a bit of a shimmy on left handed curves at 65 mph or so.

It's been getting worse and a thorough check of the steering produced nothing. I'm leaning toward the upper ball joints and the LCA bushings which appear to be original. The lower ball joints seem to be in good shape and have been replaced somewhere along the way.

I would doubt that the guide rod bushings would cause this unless they are really trashed and you'd notice that on braking.

ditto

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I like cars.

save some time and spring the bucks to have a mercedes dealership check out the front end. Don't let them fix it, just check it out. Once you find out your issues, decide which ones you can fix yourself. Any that you cannot fix, either go to them or some other knowledgeable shop for the work. Also, be sure to put the car in the air and check the condition of you center-bearing carrier. they are hardly ever checked or changed. The carrier is made out of rubber and they do wear and get raggy over a period of time. Deterioation of this rubber carrier can cause drive shaft vibration.

Hope I have provided some help. Any further questions, give me a shout at: alfredburn@hotmail.com

Peace out.

Alfredo

Your confidence in the dealerships is misplaced on vehicles that are 20 years of age. I have personal knowledge of the staff at the dealership 20 miles from here and there are possibly two individuals who can remember anything about these vehicles. Whether one of them has any experience in troubleshooting a front suspension issue is a total crapshoot. Your response from the dealership will be classic:

"Sir, the entire front end of this vehicle needs to be rebuilt. The cost will be approximately $2800."

You'll never find a tech at a dealership to diagnose a front end shimmy down to a specific component.

Yes, I would agree with Brian on this. For one thing, I worked in dealerships for a number of years and I know how they operate inside and out. It's a crap shoot as to IF anybody at the dealer even knows what they are doing or have the experience, particularly on the older models.

Also depends on which tech at the dealer gets your vehicle to work on. Some don't specialize to a person(tech) anymore. A lot of them are "bumper to bumper" type shops. So you don't always get the best person for your vehicle working on it.

I appreciate the suggestion though.

On another note, not all independent shops can be trusted either. I called a few this week. Just "feeling them out". Trying to illicit some helpful information and maybe pay them a getting to know you visit in the future.

Anyway, this one independent "Mereceds" shop owner as he stated, told me, after a brief conversation the I was looking at putting a $1,000 in to the front end. Right of the bat!

When somebody starts off like that, ah, sorry, gotta go. Talk to you later. It's a shame too. The shop is walking distance from where I live.

Having said all that, I would still be interested in driving up to these shops just to start a converstion and see what they could do for me for a $0 estimate. Again, I would try to illicit any useful information. At the dealer, maybe see if I could talk to one of the facelees tech's/mech's they hide in the back from customers-and the parts counter guys can be very useful as well. Just because we go to theses places, does not mean we HAVE TO spend money there.

I will continue to do my own work. I'll do it my way - thank you very much. However I will continue to "pick a few brains" here and there.

And of course I will continue to research this forum and other internet avenues of information.

Alignment and tire balance is about the only thing I can think of right now that I will have to farm out. Again, thank you. Astute advice Brian.

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1982 MBZ 300SD Turbo Diesel- just turned 200,000- just breaking her in

Let's be honest. These shops don't really have confidence that they can identify the one component that is causing your "issue".

They take a fast look at the front end and make the decision that at least half of it must be replaced. They "hope" that their collective group of repairs will fix your issue. If not, then they have to fall back on the position that those repairs were "needed" anyway and that more repairs are now required to locate your specific issue.

Front ends are not easy to diagnose to the component level unless the joints are loose as hell and anyone with a crowbar can find the problem.

i experienced this, i think my MB dealer knows less about my 87 than my indy MB specalist. however, i am more pleased with my quality and throughness of work...too bad i cant do more myself

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MIKE
1987 300D Turbo, 225K
124.133/603.960

I am becoming more convinced that the problem my Benz has is caused by faulty/worn guide rod bearings. I tried a different steering dampener and there was no change. I have posted some links and info for a couple of other users and they have also posted much useful info. Use "guide rod" for search.

Now I just need some time, money and a press. I willl have to do one side at a time. Note: I will be replacing the mounts on the LCA end of track rod.

Thanks. I will update as repairs progress, slowly but surely.

INFO:

The prime purpose of this joint is to take the longitudinal loading of the front suspension. They can get so bad that the front wheels can be felt moving forward and backward during braking. It’s rather unusual to get that bad because, before that, a clunking sound is usually the complaint with actual diagnosis often quite difficult. Once familiar with the symptom, one can condemn the joint when the boot is broken and the clunk is evident.

Another common complaint due to this mount/ball joint is brake pulsations and/or shimmy at a resonant speed around 60 mph.


Found the above here:
http://web.archive.org/web/20050307000824/www.continentalimports.com/ser_ic4232.html

MBZ sv info:
http://mb.braingears.com/126_DISC1/p...sis/33-600.pdf

http://mb.braingears.com/126_DISC1/p...sis/33-540.pdf

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1982 MBZ 300SD Turbo Diesel- just turned 200,000- just breaking her in

i had that shaking problem on both my 300SD and my 87 300D when the sears and another tire shop didnt properly balance the wheels. My suggestion would be to go get the wheels checked for proper balancing and see if it fixes the problem.

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Previous
2004 E55 AMG
2002 C32 AMG (#2)
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1978 300D
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1981 300SD
1983 300SD
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1995 S500
1993 190E 2.6
1992 190E 2.3
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